100 years ago today the carnage of the battle started. my grandad sgt bill was there with the 8th manchester's ,he was wounded and sent home. but was sent back before the battle ended. later in the war he was gassed. and again went back to the war. his brother was killed at gallipoli. at the end of the war he served on until 1922. and lived the rest of his life in cheetham hill until his death 3 months short of his 100th birthday.all of you will have a relative who served in the war to end all wars ! . please spend a few moments and say a prayer or just remmenber them, let us not forget them.

my grandfather was also in the Manchesters, joined at 16, fought for 3 years in many a scrap, then lost a leg at Ypres. We were never able to get any more details as the records were destroyed by the bombing of Manchester in WWII. Getting a ticket home (severe wound) was a lucky break as many of those that finally won the war were killed by the viruses caught in the demob centers. Never heard that anyone cares to remember those poor souls.

There's a fascinating book called 'The Lion & The Rose' by Kevin Shannon (ex-DLOY), it's about the 4th Battalion the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment 1914-1919, well worth reading !

Clearly we humans are too stupid to heed the warning of our fathers as we prepare to again create a conflict on european soil. Don't take my word for it read the book written by a former Hawk: General Shirreff: 'War with Russia 2017'. Draw your own conclusions, me, I'm off to make a brew because without a nice cuppa one could start to think that this world is utterly mad.

thanks bill.when I was in zyyi, glug harris (god rest his soul) came to tell me that my grandad had been blown under a bus, on great clowes street, cheetham hill. he had lost a leg, broken his skull and most of his ribs. was not expected to live the week out. he was 85 at the time. when we returned home from cyprus. he was up and walking again. and on the bowling green at manley park. he took me on a pub crawl around parts of manchester I never knew existed. at almost every bar we were greeted with here comes sargeant bill. I don't think we ever paid for a drink that day. and could he put it away. must have stored it in his false leg.but like you Bill can't find out more of his service records, as like you say they were destroyed in the manchester blitz.those old soldiers from WW1 were hard to kill. god bless all of them.

[code][/code]My Dad enlisted with the Manchester Regiment in 1929 aged 15 (Bandboy), Medical records show him fit for duty “Anywhere in the world”. He was discharged being medically unfit after an accident in December 1936, with only the back pay he was owed.

His accident was during a sports afternoon, when, someone practising throwing the hammer, released it either too soon or too late and it hit my Dad in the side of his head, almost killing him but, leaving him totally deaf after months in hospital.

Reading the reports, the army found that he was partly to blame (even though he was stood with the NCO in charge at the time), because he was standing in the wrong place ??

He was told because of this, and because it was a sports afternoon, he had no right to a pension or compensation.The accident happened in Khartoum and he was shipped back to York for treatment. He received no visits off the regiment and when fit enough to be discharged from hospital, was un-ceremonially given the order of the boot.The remainder of his life being totally deaf, he was at a disadvantage when it came to getting work, had the usual disadvantages of deaf persons (Everyone has to shout at you as if you are an idiot and you get the usual nickname of “Deafy”).

At some time in the 1950's, he played Euphonium in Besses O' Th' Barn Brass Band. I asked him as how he couldn't hear anything, he managed it. Being a bandsman, he could read music and he also had his own mouthpiece from his military band days. His answer was he could feel the vibration of the drum, mind you, I think it was the band club bar that attracted him.

A few attempts were made to get him a disablement pension but were always rejected. When he reached the age of 89 one of my sisters got the British Legion to take up his case, and when he was 90, he was awarded a lump sum and a weekly pension.

At that age the money was of little use to him or my mother and he died at the age of 92, shortly after my mother.What a difference it might have made if they had had a pension earlier in their lives.

Regards

Brian "Solly" Moulton

If it's not broke ........ Mess about with it, until it is !!

Believe it or not. I'm not Jewish. Just a very careful Christian with short arms and deep pockets !!

What a horrible true story, looked at objectively things have come on a long way since then and I like to think that that is what they, our seniors, were really fighting for. We have enjoyed many of the gains that they won for us common folk; I wonder what people will say about our generation in a hundred years.